INTERVIEW: PHOTOGRAPHER ELLIE JADE

We found Ellie through Instagram, and oh boy are we glad we did. We're really digging the photos she's been taking lately. Her photos are full of colors of the ocean, wine soaked effects and most importantly loads of fun. She even let us use one of her pictures as our home page banner, which we're very thankful for! Moreover, we wanted to get to know her a little better, so we asked her a few questions.

How did you first pick up a camera and what made you fall in love with it?

Instagram has a lot to be thanked for, I think. I saw a crew running a page called @indisposableconcept and the idea was to shoot a roll of 35mm (disposable camera) and send the images into them to be featured on their website. So I did, and really enjoyed the basic images I shot that day. From there, a really amazing friend of mine @andystaley showed me the ropes around a manual film camera, (he is a wizard at all things photography) and it was love! Now, it's a lot of trial and error and experimenting! So much fun

What makes shooting film so special for you?

There is a real science to shooting film- so many elements to making a picture turn out the way you want it too!! And even if you think you have nailed it- you actually have no idea until you get it developed. It's exciting and challenging and frustrating and totally rewarding!!

What's your favorite thing about shooting in the ocean?

The colours for sure. The ocean is so moody. Calm and sparkling one moment and then dark and menacing the next. She is so photogenic!!!

Which camera do you have by your side most of the time?

Canon AE1 with a 35mm lens

We saw that you've experienced with expired film and chemicals, can you tell us a little about that process?

It's actually something that I'm only very new at. But there are so many things you can do to film for different effects. Recently my friend told me about the idea of soaking your film before you shoot it. So I did a few rolls. Red wine, lemon juice, whiskey, vodka, urine- basically anything that might alter the films current state. I have only had the red wine developed so far, but the effect was so rad and random! We will have to wait and see how the others come out!!

We noticed you post a lot of quotes alongside your photos, what makes quotes so important for you? Any favored ones you live by?

Agh I'm such a girl at heart, and read a lot of books and listen to a lot of sad songs. I think I just like words. And it seems the perfect platform with Instagram, to be able to marry pretty words to pretty pictures. I could quote Nick Cave and The National all day. Or authors like Haruki Murakami or Tom Robbins. Sometimes it's not actually what the quote means, but just the words all placed in a sentence to make you feel something. You know? Like some have no meaning. They just make you feel something familiar.

Last but not least. what's the last photo you remember shooting?

Ha, this is a bummer of a story. I just took my little Canon Aqua Snappy to the river yesterday, super excited to shoot a roll of film I had soaked in vodka. The most beautiful sunny day, with the most beautiful blue skies- had a bunch of boyfriends jumping off a bridge above me- while I was in the water shooting them- weightless in the air, flipping, rolling and tumbling.. Got out, only to find the film wasn't winding on, because the vodka has made the film stick together when it dried.. Super bummed- cuz in my head, the pictures were so cosmic and wonderful! BUT- alas, this is the trials and tribulations of shooting film! Something I'd highly recommend to anyone!!!